Ursa sat down on the ground cross -egged away from her other children and their traveling party. She invited Zongying to sit down on her lap, but the girl refused.

Zongying knelt a few feet away, refusing to look Ursa in the eye. She picked up pebbles off the ground and chucked them angrily into the dark in front of her.

"Little one, I'm sorry, I didn't mean for you to hear all that," Ursa said.

"Because you wanted to keep lying to me?" the girl said.

"No, because... I was going to tell you, but not like that."

"You probably wouldn't ever have told me," Zongying said.

"I was trying to protect you."

"Liars always say that. It's not an excuse."

"Zongying..."

"What's true, then?" the girl said. "Out of all the stuff you told me."

"Most of it," Ursa said. "The major details, no, but most of the stories are."

"Like the letters he wrote you when he was at war?"

"Those were real."

"And the story about my grandfather talking and talking and talking at your wedding."

"That one's true as well."

"And when I asked you if dad was a good kisser and you said yes?"

Ursa turned a bit red. "Yes..."

"But he didn't die in the war did he?"

"No."

"Then why wasn't he here when I was born?"

"He sent me away."

"Why?"

"It's complicated, Zongying," Ursa said.

"No it's not, you put poison in a guy's tea," Zongying said.

"You heard that..."

"So..." The girl uncrossed her arms and looked at Ursa. "My dad. He's... He's still alive?"

"Yeah," Ursa said. "He is."

Zongying griped her right hand around her left arm and squeezed hard. "I can't believe you would lie about that. Making me think he was dead. It's like... You talk like you miss him but you won't even tell me he's alive."

"Your father was... Your father is a very bad man, Zongying. That's what I didn't want you to know."

"But you loved him anyway?"

Ursa sighed. "Please don't ask me questions like that," she said.

"Well I am. I'm asking."

"You are too young to understand."

"I'm too young for everything apparently…" The child's eyebrows knitted. "And… And if my dad was a bad man… what does that make me?"

Ursa grabbed the girl's shoulder and spoke firmly. "My daughter!" She was emphatic. "You are NOT your father. Do you understand? Just like you are not me. Your father, he helped give you your life. But that was where his role ended. He was just was a part of the process.

"The process? You mean the slobbery gross stuff?"

Ursa sighed. "Yes. But that was it! He did not raise you, or contribute any more to you than that."

Zongying looked ahead, the fires of the refugees lit up the dark. And over them was the entrance to the tunnel leading to the cave's mouth.

"I need to meet him."

Ursa suppressed a laugh.

"No!" Zongying said. "You can't tell me 'No.' I have already decided. I'm going with Zuko. With… with Fire Lord Zuko, apparently. I'm going with him back to the Capitol and I'm going to meet my father."

"I don't think that's a good idea, love…" Ursa said.

"Why not! It's my right! Better to meet him now before he gets old and sick and dies. I need to see for myself."

"We can't go to the Capitol, Zongying, there is work to be done here."

"It's not my work," the girl said. She stood up. "Zuko!" she shouted. "Zuko! I need to ask you a favor!"

Ursa sat alone in the dark as her daughter ran off.

That night Ursa laid down on her straw mat by herself. Zongying asked Zuko and his traveling party for a blanket and mat of her own. She was too angry to curl up with her mother as she had every night for the duration of her short life.

Ursa did not sleep. She stared over the dying fire at her son who was snoring on his own bedroll, untroubled, perhaps happier than he had looked in a long time. He had found his mother after all, after searching and searching for years as he had claimed. But Ursa was angry.

Why couldn't he have found another way to make contact with her? Why did he and Azula and their friends have to show up now? Why did have to threaten the safety of her refugee camp, question every single important decision she had made up to this point, upend her life all over again? And now even Zongying wanted to leave her.

It was a stupid reason to be angry. She hated herself for feeling angry. Of course Zuko and Azula had searched for her. Of course they had crossed every sea and desert and mountain to be with her again. Of course they hadn't thought twice before charging in. She was family to them, and they had spent the last ten years of their lives worrying over her in agony. She felt guilty she had not done the same for them. But why did it have to happen like this?

She thought about the day Zongying was born. Nothing but a thin towel separating her from the cold cave floor, her frail babe wrapped in the hem of her skirt while one of her traveling companions desperately searched for a spare blanket.

She had felt anger then as well. She should have been happy, having made it through the difficult birth alive with very little help, that her child had survived, that they had found somewhere safe they could stay. But the birth was when her dire reality finally hit her, when she realized the true injustice Ozai had forced upon her and her family. As much as she loved Zongying with all her life, the last thing in the world she wanted was to raise a child in exile. She wanted to go home. She wanted to be with her other children. She wanted peace and safety and normalcy. And realizing that had filled Ursa with anger.

The anger turned to guilt over the anger. And the guilt became anger again. That was how she had felt for the past ten years. And most of the time she had pressed those feeling down into the bottom of her mind and continued on with her life and her work. She could not do that anymore.

The next morning, Toph, Katara, and Aang got to work on rerouting the underground spring. Ursa got some of the other water benders to help them. They spent an hour or so inspecting, mapping, and diagramming the tunnels on paper, and then the work began.

The new well was placed in the center of the cavern. The water underneath was moved to accommodated it. The contaminated spring was sealed closed. It was more complicated than they originally planned, and they weren't done until long after dinner time.

But it was worth it. The residents of the cave watched in delight as they worked, cheering them on. And when Aang announced the new well was ready for use, a round of applause came in reply.

Watching the first of the residents dip her bucket into the new well, Ursa felt guilt once again. She had stayed awake angry last night at the arrival of these strangers, when their intrusion had brought nothing but good fortune so far Perhaps she shouldn't have been so hard on herself. Perhaps there were other emotions within her that had been bubbling for a long long time.

The next morning Zuko and his friends rose early to pack. They knew better than to overstay their welcome. Zongying gathered her books, pocket knife, boots, and her singular change of clothes, folded them into her blanket and shoved them in a basket to take with her.

"I don't know about that," Zuko said to the girl.

"If you don't take me," Zongying said, "I'll catch a boat and go myself. I made up my mind."

"Wait!" Katara said. "She wants to what?"

"It's my dad, Zuko," Zongying said. "I want to go to the prison to see him! Zuko, you looked for years and years and years to find your mom. Because she's your mom. This is my dad."

"It's not the same," Zuko said.

"Yes it is," Zongying insisted.

"You have to talk her out of this, Zuko," Katara said. "Zongying, you are talking about a war criminal. You really want to go to a dark smelly prison to talk to a war criminal?"

"If he's in jail, what's the worse that he can do to me?" the girl said. "Yell at me through the bars? I just want to see him."

"Why?" Zuko said.

"I just do," she said.

"It makes sense to me," Azula said, standing off to the side and letting everyone else finish the packing.

They looked at Azula. Azula shrugged.

"I'm just saying," Azula said. "It makes sense that she would want to meet him. And she's right. The idiot can't even fire bend, so it's not like it would be dangerous for her or anything."

"Are you insane?" Katara said. "I mean, you're... you, so I already know you are, but..."

"No," Aang said. "I think I get it. Azula has a point. Isn't that just a human primal instinct? To want to know... who we are, where we come from? All those things?"

Katara turned toward Aang and let her jaw hang open.

"Yeah!" Zongying said. "They get it. Zuko! You have to take me."

"I mean, not that the idea doesn't thoroughly disgust me," Aang said. "She is just a kid. I think it's a bad idea too, but it makes sense she wants to go."

"Oh please," Azula said. "Zongying would be safer in the prison talking to him than she is here! Zongying, if Zuko won't take you to meet your father, I will. When we get to the Capital you and I will go to visit him, okay?"

"Really!?" Zongying said. She ran forward and wrapped her arms around Azula.

Azula's body tensed and flinched from the human contact. "Yeah, whatever. You don't have to assault me over it." She pushed Zongying away.

Ursa, tired of listening, pulled off her blanket and rose from her mat. "Zongying, you're forgetting the one opinion that really matters in this conversation. Mine."

"A liar's opinion," Zongying sniped.

"You're not going to the prison," Ursa said.

"MOM!" Zongying threw up her hands in exasperation.

"Maybe one day when you're older, and I can come with you," Ursa said, "we can arrange a highly controlled, well-planned meeting. Maybe. MAYBE."

"Well, there's no reason you can't come with us when we get home," Azula said to her mother.

Ursa sighed. "When we get home..." she said.

"You're not..." Zuko stared at his mother.

"No," Ursa said. "I'm not coming to the Capitol. I have people here who need me. I have work to do. There's a cholera outbreak going on. We have an incoming caravan of refugees coming in from the north next month. My friend is due to have her baby in the next few weeks and she's going to need my help. I can't just walk away. Long ago I was forced to walk away from my responsibilities and all I cared about. I'm not going to do it voluntarily."

Zuko took a deep breath. He was noticeably crestfallen. "I came all this way looking for you, hoping to bring..."

"I know, Love." she said. "And, I'm very grateful that you did. It is a dream come true for me being able to see you again. More than you can imagine. But I can't leave."

There was a thick and uncomfortable pause.

"Well," Zuko said, looking down at his feet. "You've made it very clear to me how seriously you take your duties here. And, I need to respect that."

"And I don't particularly want Zongying going to the Capitol without me, so..." She moved to take the basket of supplies from the girl's arms.

"You aren't serious!" Zongying cried. "Mom! Zuko already told me I could go with him! This isn't FAIR."

"I've made up my mind," Ursa said. "You're nine years old, I can't send you off to some foreign city without me."

"No!" Zongying started to cry. The traveling party stepped back from her a little. "You don't ever let me do anything! I'm not allowed to go outside! I'm not allowed to go to the beach! I'm a fire bender, mom, and I'm not even allowed to see the sun! Hell! I'm not even allowed to fire bend! I'm done with this! I'm not letting you keep me here."

"Zongying..." Ursa's protests however were useless.

"You can try!" Zongying curled her tiny fists and widened her stance. Smoke escaped from her hands and her breath. She looked Ursa dead in the eye. "You can tie me up with a rope and imprison me in one of the tunnels. You can weigh me down with a rock or break my legs but I'll still escape!" she said. "I'll go to the fishing village and get a boat! I'll swim if I have to! You keep me away from the rest of the world! You don't tell me the truth! I'm done. I'm going if you like it or not!" She took her basket and marched off towards the cave's exit.

"Zongying, come back here!" Ursa called. The girl did not listen.

Azula picked up her bag and sighed. "Her whole life she's been simultaneously sheltered and exposed to the worst the world has to offer. After every thing you've screwed up, Mother, the least you can do is let her meet her old man." She followed Zongying outside.

"Azula!" Zuko shouted. "Apologize to her!"

Azula did not turn around, but did raise her hand to show Zuko her finger.

Zuko fumed. "Mother, if you don't want her to get on that boat, I won't let her on the boat. Azula has no right to undermine you that way. Or to speak to you that way."

"But she does have a point," Ursa said. "I have screwed everything up."

"Mother..." Zuko said. "You don't need to say that."

"You're sweet," Ursa said, her voice tired. She put her hand on Zuko's cheek. She sighed and turned toward the traveling party. "I'm sorry I could not give you the warmest welcome you deserve. But it was a pleasure to meet all of you. Do you need help to carry out your things?"

"I think we can handle it," Sokka said. "We're used to traveling."

The avatar turned to her and bowed. "It was kind enough to let us into your cave," he said, his tone once again striking that dissonant mix of youth and maturity. "I know you value your secrecy. But if you need anything else, all you need to do is write."

"All I need is for you to keep your promise," Ursa said. "Not a word..."

"Yes, Ma'am," Aang said.

Zuko put his arms around his mother. He held her tightly, perhaps the last chance he would have in a while to do so. She felt water building in her eyes. What would happen after this? It wasn't like he could visit any time he wanted. It wasn't as if she could simply take a ship to the capitol to have Harvest Festival dinner with him. And he knew that. After ten years apart they would be separated all over again.

She let go.

Her son picked up his bags, and he his friends headed for the cave's exist.

Ursa watched them go, standing at her campsite, heart sinking threw her chest into her stomach.

She would clean up from breakfast. And then she would help Zongying practice her reading and writing. And then make her daily inspection of the camp, check the inventory in the supply stash, update the records to accommodate new arrivals. So much work. She wasn't ready to sink back into the old routine.

And an impulse overcame her. Illogical and stupid and impractical.

"Hell..." she said.

Moving as quickly as she could she grabbed an old sack from beside her bedroll. Into it she shoved some of her clothes, her bottles of soaps and ointments, her hairbrush. She reached under her pillow for her sapphire necklace, of of the few keepsakes she had from the days of old (Perhaps she could have answered Katara's questions about her marriage a lot more quickly by showing her that.) She stamped out the campfire, rolled up her sleeping mat, and then picked up the basket that Zongying had packed.

The rest could stay where it was. Perhaps someone in the camp would use it or steal it but she'd deal with that after she got back.

Her second in command was sitting in his work space near the entrance of the cave, writing a letter to one of their suppliers.

"Hey!" Ursa said.

He looked up.

"You think you can handle things on your own for a week or so?"

"Where are you going?"

"Vacation."

He looked at her as if she had just solicited him for murder.

"With my children," she said.

"I assumed," he said.

"I'm coming back. Just make sure the newcomers from the Peninsula file their papers. I don't want to sort out the same we did last year, do you understand?"

He sighed. "Do you think that's a good idea, you leaving?"

"It's a terrible idea," she said. "And I'm doing it anyway."

She smiled at him, and then headed into the tunnel.